Ernie Harwell, 1918–2010

Although he announced Detroit Tigers baseball games on WJR radio for more than four decades, Ernie Harwell had no idea how popular he was until Tom Monaghan, owner of the Tigers and WJR, tried to fire him. When the station unilaterally declared that the 1991 season would be his last, Detroiters protested—and not just baseball fans. At one Detroit Red Wings hockey game, fans chanted, “We want Ernie” loud enough to shake the rafters. Harwell returned to the Tigers in 1993.

Growing up in tiny Washington, Ga., Harwell suffered from a speech impediment, said The Washington Post. Elocution lessons cleared up the problem, but he could never overcome his athletic shortcomings. As a child, “I wanted to play baseball in the worst way,” he said, “and that’s the way I did play it.” The family later moved to Atlanta, and after his father was paralyzed during brain surgery, Harwell took a paper route to help the family make ends meet. One of his customers was Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind.

Harwell’s broadcasts retained a touch of the South, said The New York Times. Tigers fans savored his homespun turns of speech, such as his description of a player retired on a called third strike. The player didn’t just fail to swing at the ball, Harwell said, “he stood there like a house at the side of the road.”

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Thousands of fans last week filed past Harwell’s open casket at Comerica Park, the Tigers’ home field, to pay their respects. He’s survived by his wife, Lulu, and their four children.